(a) As required by § 682.200(d), States must use funds reserved by the Governor for statewide activities to conduct evaluations of activities under the WIOA title I core programs in order to promote continuous improvement, research and test innovative services and strategies, and achieve high levels of performance and outcomes.

(b) Evaluations conducted under paragraph (a) of this section must:

(1) Be coordinated with and designed in conjunction with State and Local WDBs and with State agencies responsible for the administration of all core programs;

(2) When appropriate, include analysis of customer feedback and outcome and process measures in the statewide workforce development system;

(3) Use designs that employ the most rigorous analytical and statistical methods that are reasonably feasible, such as the use of control groups; and

(4) To the extent feasible, be coordinated with the evaluations provided for by the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Education under WIOA sec. 169 (regarding title I programs and other employment-related programs), WIOA sec. 242(c)(2)(D) (regarding adult education), sec. 12(a)(5), 14, and 107 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 709(a)(5), 711, 727) (applied with respect to programs carried out under title I of that Act (29 U.S.C. 720 et seq.)), and the investigations provided by the Secretary of Labor under sec. 10(b) of the Wagner-Peyser Act (29 U.S.C. 49i(b)).

(c) States must annually prepare, submit to the State WDB and Local WDBs in the State, and make available to the public (including by electronic means) reports containing the results, as available, of the evaluations described in paragraph (a) of this section.

(d) States must cooperate, to the extent practicable, in evaluations and related research projects conducted by the Secretaries of Labor and Education under the laws cited in paragraph (b)(4) of this section. Such cooperation must, at a minimum, meet the following requirements:

(1) The timely provision of:

(i) Data, in accordance with appropriate privacy protections established by the Secretary of Labor;

(ii) Responses to surveys;

(iii) Site visits; and

(iv) Data and survey responses from local subgrantees and State and Local WDBs, and assuring that subgrantees and WDBs allow timely site visits;

(2) Encouraging other one-stop partners at local level to cooperate in timely provision of data, survey responses and site visits as listed in paragraphs (d)(1)(i) through (iv) of this section; and

(3) If a State determines that timely cooperation in data provision as described in paragraph (d)(1) of this section is not practicable, the Governor must inform the Secretary in writing and explain the reasons why it is not practicable. In such circumstances, the State must cooperate with the Department in developing a plan or strategy to mitigate or overcome the problems preventing timely provision of data, survey responses, and site visits.

(e) In fulfilling the requirements under paragraphs (a) through (c) of this section, States are permitted, but not required, to:

(1) Conduct evaluations that jointly examine title I core program activities and activities under other core programs in WIOA titles II-IV, as determined through the processes associated with paragraph (b)(1) of this section;

(2) Conduct any type of evaluation similar to those authorized for, or conducted by, the Department of Labor or the Department of Education under the laws cited in paragraph (b)(4) of this section, including process and outcome studies, pilot and demonstration projects that have an evaluative component, analyses of administrative and programmatic data, impact and benefit-cost analyses, and use of rigorous designs to test the efficacy of various interventions; and

(3) Conduct evaluations over multiple program years, involving multiple phases and such tasks and activities as necessary for an evaluation, such as a literature or evidence review, feasibility study, planning, research, coordination, design, data collection, analysis, and report preparation, clearance, and dissemination.

(f) In funding evaluations conducted under paragraph (a) of this section, States are permitted, but not required to:

(1) Use funds from any WIOA title I-IV core program to conduct evaluations, as determined through the processes associated with paragraph (b)(1) of this section; and

(2) Use or combine funds, consistent with Federal and State law, regulation and guidance, from other public or private sources, to conduct evaluations relating to activities under the WIOA title I-IV core programs. Such projects may include those funded by the Department of Labor and other Federal agencies, among other sources.